USA > Massachusetts > Dukes County > Marthas Vineyard > The history of Martha's Vineyard, Dukes County, Massachusetts, Volume II > Part 32
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Stephen Shohkow. - He was a brother of the two prev- iously named, and being brought up"in a pious English Family," where he received an education, he became a preacher to his people in after years. He was drowned in the year 1713, by the oveturning of a canoe.5
Isaac Ompanit. - He was a ruling elder of the church in this town, and the son of an Indian called Noquitompany. Isaac was a civil magistrate, as well as a leader in religious matters. Mayhew gives him a good character for piety and honesty. "He was much vexed by some controversies which arose betwixt the Indians of the Place where he lived, and some of their English Neighbours, respecting the Title of the Land which the Indians claimed, "says Mayhew, "the Trouble
1Indian Converts, 126. 2Ibid., 20, 148. 3Ibid., 28. 4Ibid., 30. "Ibid., 54.
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whereof fell much on him, he being a leading Man in the Place; But I believe he acted with a good Conscience in that Affair."1
Paul, commonly called Old Paul, who died at Christian- town about the year 1676, "was generally esteemed a godly Man," says Mayhew, "being a Serious Professor of Religion, constant in the Performance of the Duties of it, and as far as I can learn, without any Stain in his Life and Conversation."
John Howwannan. - A "praying Indian," who died about 1678.
Pattompan. - He was a brother of John, Micah, Stephen and Daniel Shokow, all preachers, "and esteemed like them for Piety." He died in 1688.
POPULATION.
The Indian population of Christiantown is first reported in 1698 as 82, and no other record is known for the next sixty years. In 1762 it was 54; in 1790 it was 40; in 1828 it was 49 and in 1858 it was 53, of which number 23 were males and 30 females.
ANCIENT LANDMARKS
ALGONQUIAN PLACE NAMES.
It is a singular fact that this Indian settlement has pre- served scarcely any local names of Algonquian origin. The few that have come down to us in the records are here noted.
Waakesha .- In a deed dated 1742, transferring land in Tisbury, "a place called by the Indians Wackesha" and near to the dwelling house of John Merry, is mentioned. (Deeds, VI, 512.) In 1743 Waakesha in Christiantown is mentioned. The word is probably a boundary designation, Wequshau, "as far as it goes," and it forms the basis of several local place- names on the Vineyard.
Wahquide .- Hosea Manhut, an Indian sold to Elisha Amos, Indian, 8 acres of land at "Okokame Christiantown it is called Wahquide." 1726. (Deeds, VI, 39 written in the Indian language.)
1Indian Converts, 59.
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ENGLISH PLACE NAMES.
Dancing Field .- This place, where the aborigines held their ceremonial dances, was situated on a level plateau to the northeast of the (true) Indian Hill.
Hester's Field .- This was a part of the Western portion of Christian Town, as described in a document of 1737-8. (Cong. Lib. Athearn, Mss.)
SCHOOLS.
Educational privileges for the Indians have been provided by the several societies devoted to missionary work among that race; but definite information is wanting to warrant particulars. In 1714 Job Somannan was the schoolmaster and in 1724 the "school" was mentioned. These are the earliest references to this subject. In the middle of the next century the school had an allowance of $100 from the state and in 1858 there were reported fifteen children of school age, with an average attendance of nine scholars during the five and a half months annually devoted to term work.
LATER ENCROACHMENTS OF THE ENGLISH.
The settlement of the bounds of Takemmy and Christian- town in 1709, by the survey of Otis and Bassett, kept the English in check for a number of years, but the cupidity of the white man, and the ignorance of the red man, worked out its inevitable result. Gradually in the course of time, as the decades passed and the memory of the restrictions was lost, purchases were made by the whites of the complacent native, sometimes for a valuable consideration, oftentimes for an inadequate payment. An instance of the former class is that of Deacon Stephen Luce, who paid in specie £146-13-4 for a tract in the Indian town. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel was notified in 1760 of this condition of affairs, and immediately petitioned Governor Bernard to investigate these violations of local and province laws. A committee was appointed and made an exhaustive examination of the premises and the history of the land rights of the natives. They made a report in 1762, in which they declared all purchases made by the whites since 1699, when Josias confirmed his grant, to be illegal. This required a wholesale eviction, for between three and four hundred acres had been sliced off
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three sides of Christiantown, but it will be no surprise to learn that such a proceeding met with but scant consideration. The committee said: -
if those Indians had the Right in the Land they Sold, it is plain it was against the Law of the Province for them to Sell, or the English to buy, and yet for those English late Purchasers in Christian Town, to be turned out of their Houses, which are eight in number: and their Improvements, loose all their Labour in the Stone Walls and the great Improvements they have made, and the money they paid as the purchase consideration for said Lands, seemed very hard: And on the other hand for the Indians to be deprived of their Inheritance, and not thro: any Fault of their own seemed as hard, This put your Committee to a great Plunge at last the following Expedient was thought of; namely, That the English late Pur- chasers at Christian Town, should return to the Indians of the Lands they purchased, more than a sufficient Quantity for the Indians com- fortable support, which are but fifty four in number Men Women and Children. This proposal both English Proprietors and Indians acquiesced in, and unanimoulsy came into. The bounds were made and Agreed upon by both, as by their respective Petitions more fully will appear.
The committee "upon the whole" gave it as their final opinion that about 160 acres should be returned to the Indians by the purchasers by deed to the Society, according to metes and bounds detailed by them; and that the land remaining to the Indians be confirmed to them as in common and un- divided. These recommendations were carried out.
FINAL DIVISION IN SEVERALTY.
This condition of common ownership as obtained, lasted for sixty-five years longer, when the General Court, in 1828, passed an act to parcel out the undivided lands to the existing descendants of the Praying Indians, then resident in the town. About three hundred and ninety acres were so divided into nineteen lots, of which one was left for a meeting-house, three for the support of the poor, and a "common" of about ten acres. This gave about twenty-five acres to each share.
The undivided common lands remained in this state for sixty years longer. On Dec. 1, 1878 Judge Defriez, sitting as a probate court, under the provisions of an act of the legis- lature ordered their division. Joseph T. Pease and Richard L. Pease were the commissioners for this purpose, and exactly one hundred persons, mostly living in other places, participated in the division of these few remaining acres of little market value.1
1Chapter 463, Acts and Resolves, 1869, p. 780.
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The present representatives of the "praying indians" of Manitouwattootan are few in number, Joseph Quannowill Mingo and wife, and his son, Samuel Mingo, a widower, con- stituting this remnant. The former, now over four score years of age, an upright and intelligent citizen, has given the author valuable help in a clearing up many obscurities in the early annals of this place.
Jofias
Rootanummin
alias his man's
THE SIGN MANUAL OF JOSIAS, SACHEM OF TAKEMMY. 1694.
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CHICKEMMOO.
PURCHASED BY THOMAS MAYHEW.
One of the earliest acquisitions of property made by the elder Thomas Mayhew, outside of his home lot at Great Har- bor, was the section of land on the North Shore, then and ever since known as Chickemmoo. Although the owner of the soil by purchase, yet in accordance with his custom of honorable dealing with the native inhabitants of the districts where he obtained special titles, he bought from the sachems their rights in Chickemmoo, for which he paid them in coin or its equivalent.
In consideration of "the summe of Ten pound to my content," Cheesechamuck, the Sachem of Homes Hole ex- ecuted the following deed: --- 1
This doth witness that I Cheesechamuk, the Sachim of Holmses hole doe by these presents sell and set over unto Thomas Mayhew the Elder of the Vineyard one Quarter part of all that land which is called Chickemmow for him the said Thomas Mayhew his heires and assignes to Injoy for ever: the said one quarter of the land of Chickemmow is to begin at Itchpoquaset Brook and so to run by the shore till it comes to the sea side ward and so the said quarter part of land is to runne into the Iland from the sea side to the Middle line of the said land called Chick- emmow; the said Thomas Mayhew is to have four spans round in the middle of every whale that comes upon the shore of this quarter part and no more: the hunting of Deire is common, but no trappes to be set:
In witness to this Deed of sale I have set my hand unto it this tenth Day of August 1658
The Marke X of Cheeschamuck
Having acquired the rights of the sachem of the Homes Hole territory in this property, the elder Mayhew next bought out the rights of another sachem, Tewanquatuck, which is recorded in the following deed of sale :-
This doth witness that I, Towanquatuck, sachim, for him his heirs and assigns the one quarter part of that land called Chickemmoo, joining to that land I bought of Cheeschamuck, by the sea side, with all the priviledges thereunto belonging unto Thomas Mayhew his heirs and assigns to enjoy forever and I do acknowledge that I have had in full payment for that land aforesaid the full sum of ten pounds:
Witness hereunto my hand the eight day of october 1659
Towanquatuck, his mark?
1Dukes Deeds, I, 355.
?Ibid., I, 182.
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By these two purchases, Mayhew had acquired half of the Chickemmoo region and it was ten years before he obtained the remainder. On Feb. 2, 1669, he bought of Maquaine, a praying Indian, one eighth part, and on April 25, 1669, Towan- quatuck sold to him three eighths, thus completing the ac- quisition of the entire property.1 It will be noticed that there is no description of the extent or limits of the territory involved and this very question arose later. In the charter granted to Tisbury Manor in 1671 the bounds of Chickemmoo are thus stated: -
bounded on the East by a Spring called by the name of Kutta-shim-moo, on the West by a Brooke called Each-poo-quas-sit, on the North by the Sound & on the South by the Bounds of Takemmy.2
Chickemmoo is an Algonquian word and in the last two centuries and a half it has retained its proper spelling with but little and unimportant variation in the records. In 1684 it was written in one deed Kutchickemmo,3 the prefix, meaning great, thus only qualifying its definition, which is "a fish weir" or "a place of the fish weir," perhaps "place of great fish weir."4 This had reference probably to the present Herring creek on the east corner bound of Chickemmoo, where our aboriginal predecessors undoubtedly set their nets for the alewives that annually ran up into Chappaquonset pond to spawn. In local parlance it is pronounced Chekamy. This tract of land became a well defined section of two towns, widely separated from the parent settlements of both, and was always given special treatment by them. For this reason it is here treated as a distinct local entity.
ANCIENT LANDMARKS.
ALGONQUIAN PLACE NAMES.
Conaconaket. - This word is used to describe a "Line" or boundary in Chickemmoo in 1701. John Daggett sold to Thomas Butler certain land "where was a brick kill," and from thence "northerly till it meets with Conaconaket line." (Deeds, II, 44.) In a subsequent instrument John Daggett,
1Dukes Deeds, III, 467; V, 321.
2New York Archives, Patents, Vol. IV, fol. 73.
3Dukes Deeds, I, 273.
'A similar name occurs in Rhode Island on Pawcatuck river, Chickmaug and another form in the Cree dialect is Chickamauga.
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in 1711, sold to James Cottle certain land near Thomas But- ler's, and referred to the "Nowconaca line," which is probably one and the same with the first named reading, the letters k-e-t being omitted from the termination, and N-o being prefixed (ibid, III, 83). "Necorneca head line" is mentioned in 1734 (ibid., VI, 140). The modern spelling is Makonikey. This line bisected Chickemmoo into a northern and a southern half, running at right angles with Savage's line.
The name is the equivalent of the Massachusetts Nuk- konohkee, meaning "old land" or "ancient place," and the Narragansett "Necawn-auke". Like many similar words, it came to describe a location inclosed by the line and is now applied to Makonikey Heights and Makonikey Head.
Ponkquatesse. - The spring, called by this name in 1703, was one of the sources of the Black Water brook. In Ply- mouth there was a name of like derivation, Ponkatesett, a marsh in that town. (Plymouth Deeds, I, 87).
Weechpoquassit (1658), or commonly written Eachpo- quasitt, is a boundary designation. Eachpoquassit was the natural boundary line between the sachemships of Takemmy and Nunnepoag, at that part of the island; it also was the west bound of Chickemmoo. The meaning of the word has already been explained.
ENGLISH PLACE NAMES.
Black Water Brook. - Same as Eachpoquasitt [q.v].
Black Pond. - There were two small ponds called by this name, (1) near Lambert's Cove, as one of the chain of ponds, visible from the road, and (2) in the northeast part of Chickemmoo (1765).
Duck Pond. - A small pond in the rear of the Edward Cottle place.
Half Moon Pond. - This was alluded to in 1727, in a deed from Israel to David Butler, wherein the grantor says :- "beginning at the North East part of a pond called half moon pond, then westerly to a fence and then Northerly to Great James Pond" (Deeds, IV, 260). Samuel Lambert lived close to Half Moon pond in 1732. (Deeds, V, 279).
James Pond. - The first occurrence of this name is in 1682 and it probably was so called on account of James, Duke of York, as in 1700 it was designated as "Pond Royall." Before this it had been called Onkakemmy pond and Each-
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poquassit pond. The modern name for it is Great James pond.
Muddy Pond. - A small pond near William Athearn's. No Bottom Pond. - Another small pond next to William Athearn's, the two being of the chain of four in that locality. Spectacle Pond. - A small pond in the central part of Chickemmoo. This is not an uncommon name for small bodies of fresh water at that period. The word is used in its ancient signification of a reflection or mirror, meaning a clear sheet of water like a mirror. There is a Spectacle pond in Falmouth, one in Sandwich and one in Wareham.
Whirlwind Neck. - This was applied to a dam on the eastern branch of the Eachpoquassit brook at the turn of the stream.
ANNEXED TO TISBURY MANOR, 1671.
When the elder Mayhew and his grandson Matthew secured the town charters for Edgartown and Tisbury in 1671, it will be recalled that a third grant was made to them person- ally at the same time, for the Manor of Tisbury. The par- ticulars of this grant will be detailed elsewhere, and it will be only necessary to say that this latter manorial grant included several scattered tracts of land in Chilmark and the Elizabeth Islands, including Chickemmoo, which was within the bounds of Tisbury. Chickemmoo being administered by the Lords of the Manor of Tisbury thus became an independent parcel of territory within the chartered limits of another town, and such an anomalous situation speedily led to complications that set two towns by the ears and became the basis of legal entanglements between property owners and tax collectors. During the life of the elder Mayhew his personality prevented any difficulties arising from this situation, but after his death when the lordship passed to Matthew his grandson and later to Thomas Dongan, the dissatisfaction in Tisbury grew into open expression. As soon as Massachusetts assumed jurisdiction, in 1692, over the Island, Simon Athearn per- sistently complained of these incongruous subdivisions, as elsewhere related, and advocated a consolidation into two towns. In one letter to the General Court dated Oct. 20, 1694, he says: -
If major mayhew object, this I say it seems as Expedient as for Chil- mark to Jump over tisbury to Chikkemoo & to Jump over the Sound
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to Elizabeth Ils: The end of this motion is to heal our being cut in pieces, and to reduce us all in to a competent Township to maintain the worship of God & serve the King & Cuntry.1
FIRST SETTLEMENT
During the lifetime of Governor Mayhew, the proprietor of the land and its manorial lord, no attempt was made to settle this region and at the time of his death not an acre of it had been sold by him. In his will, dated June 16, 1681, he disposed of it in two equal parts to his daughters, Hannah Daggett and Martha Tupper, of which the western half fell to the favorite daughter, the wife of Thomas Daggett. This became an accomplished fact when his will was admitted to probate, March 8, 1682, just after his death. Three months after this a definite step towards settling this region was taken by Isaac Chase, a recent arrival from Hampton, N. H., and he applied to the selectmen of Tisbury for permission to acquire property there. The following record shows the action taken by them: -
This: 25: of July 1682
The tounsmen of tysbury do give liberty unto Isack Chace to purtch asartain parsel of land it being forty acres lying one the east side of wech- paquaset pond upon the condison that the foresid Izack chace shall and do setel a mann well proved Among men upon the aforesaid land within fore years after the date of this record and if the fore said Izack chace Do not setel the land as is Above. . the toun shall have the land paying the charg of purchas. 2
With this authorization Chase proceeded to negotiate with the Sachem Josias, and on August 15th following he had succeeded in securing a large tract which was thus described :-
bounded eastwardly by a river or small brook called Echpooquaset River; westerly by a pond called Echpooquasit pond by the English James his pond and the middlemost of these small runnes of water at the southern end of the said pond from the Southern end of which runne of water to goe by a straight line to the north east corner of a pond lying in the woods commonly called Mekonnichashquat; and from thence extending by a straight line to the middle of a small swamp lying near the head of the aforesaid brook caled Eachpooquasit; and from the middle of sd swamp by a straight line to the head of said river or brook called Echpooquasit which sd brook runeth through the woodes to a little pond called the black pond & from thence into the Sea or Sound which is the North boundes.3
1Mass. Arch., CVI, 96. 2Tisbury Records, 16. 3Dukes Deeds, I, 281.
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Mekonnichashquat pond is now known as Old House pond and the rest of the description is so clear, an unusual merit in those days, that it scarcely requires any further state- ment to locate it accurately.
It is presumed that Chase fulfilled his part of the bargain made with the selectmen, and settled "a man well A proved Among men upon the aforesaid land within fore years after," but if he did so there is no record of his personality. This purchase and the Governor's death had the effect of opening up Chickemmoo for the sons of the pioneers who wished for broad acres of their own. Joshua and John Daggett (12), sons of Mrs. Hannah Daggett, had built a house there, on their mother's portion before 1688, and in order to invest them and her with the full panoply of patentees' rights, Mat- thew Mayhew in August, 1688, confirmed to "his loving aunt" and his two cousins a tract about a quarter of a mile wide "by the Sound from said Eachpoquassit Eastward."1 It is not believed that Joshua lived on this land, as he was a resident of Edgartown, but the house of John Daggett is frequently mentioned in later years and it is believed that this place was his home in 1688 or earlier.2 Three years later Mrs. Hannah sold to her son, Capt. Thomas Daggett late of Bristol, R. I., March 18, 1691, one quarter of Chick- emmoo, and on Sept. 16, same year, gave her son Joshua another quarter.8
The other daughter of the old Governor, Mrs. Martha Tupper of Sandwich, who owned the eastern half, found a purchaser for the entire tract of twelve hundred acres [by estimation] in Isaac Chase, who on Feb. 20, 1691-2, completed this great transfer, probably the largest on record on the island between individuals.4 Two years later Chase added to his already large holdings on Jan. 2, 1693-4, by acquiring the rights of Captain Thomas Daggett just mentioned. Chase now owned both ends of Chickemmoo and probably three quarters of the entire territory. Still he continued to purchase and on Nov. 16, 1698, he bought one hundred acres next ad- joining the Tupper tract of Ephraim Savage of Boston and
1Deeds, II, 341.
2The plan of Tisbury in 1694 shown on p. 6 shows two houses in Chickemmoo. It is certain that one was John Daggett's and we may surmise that the other was on the Chase property occupied by his tenant, "a man well A proved."
3Dukes Deeds, III, 294; V, 84.
4Ibid., I, 187.
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from that day to this, over two centuries, the dividing line between the two halves of Chickemmoo has been called Savage's Line.1 Meanwhile on the other half the Daggetts were transferring to each other, until it became necessary to straighten out ownerships, and a division of their property by metes and bounds was made before 1700.
THE ANCIENT BOUNDARIES IN DISPUTE.
The question began to arise at this time concerning the limits of Chickemmoo on its western boundary. Some claimed that it extended to Great James pond, which would seem to have been the natural delimitation instead of the little Black Water brook just east, as held by others. But this did not prevent the sale of property in that region. Thomas Butler (II) of Edgartown made the first of his many purchases in Chickemmoo of Joshua Daggett in Feb. 6, 1700, a sixth of the western or Daggett half, excepting tracts disposed of to his brother, John Daggett.2 On Dec. 27, 1700, Butler purchased another sixth of the same grantors,3 and on March 6, 1700-1, Butler bought of Chase the tract between Great James pond and the Itchpooquassit river or brook which had been sold to Chase in 1682 by the Sachem.3
Meanwhile the Tisbury proprietors were agitating the boundary question and levying taxes on the strip sold by Chase to Butler, who resisted payment. On Sept. 27, 1703, the town met to consider and voted: -
that Simon Athern Joseph daggit and John Cottle shall in the behalf of this Town forthwith go and procure three Indifferant Indians of good Report to Joyn with them to settle and Run the Lyne between Nashow- kemuck and Tisbury & on the Est side Tisbury 4
This committee took with them Sam Mackakunit, an Indian preacher, from Edgartown, Pattook an Indian magis- trate and Isaac, a Christian Indian, to give evidence in person on the spot, but they were warned off by Butler as trespassers. However the Indians unanimously agreed that the bounds
'Ibid., I, 391. It is not known how Ephraim Savage obtained his title. He was a Boston merchant and probably got it through business dealings with one of the Daggetts, although his name does not appear as a grantee in the land records. This effectually disposes of the legend that it was called after the savages of the region who annually fought at that line.
2Dukes Deeds, I, 237, 156.
3Ibid., I, 158.
'Town Records, 46.
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between Takemmy and Nunpoag "was so settelled many years ago. :
that is at the black water or weechpoquasit being the pond and Run of water: into the sound and said bounds to Run southwardly as the said Run of water Cometh from the spring, Called, ponkquatesse, and from said spring of water to the midle of watchet. on the south side of this Iland so that all the Est side of said bounds to belong unto nunpoak, and on the west side of said ponds unto Takymmy,1
THOMAS BUTLER'S LEGAL WAR WITH TISBURY.
Thomas Button But if the Indians con- sidered it " settelled, " Thomas Butler did not, and he promptly had war- rants served on the committee of Tisbury townsmen for trespass and on Oct. 5, just eight days after, the case was tried and Butler won the suit.2 It is to be supposed that such would be the result with all the family influences at work on and off the bench to uphold the Daggetts in their warranty sales to Butler. However, the case was clearly misjudged, as the evidence of the Indians was unanimous and further investigation only confirmed their contention. Accordingly the selectmen of Chilmark, as the titular proprietary of Chickemmoo, and the selectmen of Tisbury agreed to submit it to the arbitration of a committee of Indians, to be chosen by Experience May- hew, in order that the question might be settled according to right and justice. The committee of Indians and all con- cerned met as agreed and their findings are thus recorded :-
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